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What this forum is for

Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2003 11:14 am
by Chris Slack
Please conduct bitching/venting and whining discussions in the Greenroom or the Run Your Mouth forum, that is not the purpose of this forum. I am going to be MUCH stricter about this shit than I have been in the past, things are just too nicey nicey here.

The Abyss with no posts is better than The Abyss used as a whining and bitching chat room.

From the description:

This forum is designed to accept all flaming that might go on in the other forums. By having a venue dedicated exclusively to arguments that go beyond reason I hope to reduce clutter on the other boards.

EDIT: Flaming is reacting to someone's newsgroup (or forum) posting or e-mail in a hostile manner by publicly chastising the person or bombarding the person with nasty e-mail. Flaming may occur to users who ask stupid questions or who engage in behavior that violates what is considered proper online netiquette. A flame war occurs when two or more users flame each other in an escalating manner that threatens to continue unabated.

Another:
An acrimonious dispute, especially when conducted on a public electronic forum such as Usenet or message boards.

Yet another definition:
A flame war erupts when people with opposing opinions sink to personal attacks.

For example, a conversation running like this:

Person A: All hair-pulling is caused by subliminal suggestions from pigeons.*
Person B: I disagree - I've never had pigeons anywhere within 100 miles of me, and I still pull my hair.

is likely not the start of a flame war. Now Person A could defend that position fairly vigorously, and things could potentially slide into a flame war, but as it stands, the postings are polite.

On the other hand, a conversation like this:

Person A: All hair-pulling is caused by subliminal suggestions from pigeons.
Person B: You're absolutely out of your mind! I've never had pigeons anywhere within 100 miles of me, and I still pull my hair. Where did you get that stupid idea about pigeons?

is almost guaranteed to start a flame war.

The bottom line is that while you may criticize ideas, you should not criticize people.

Ever heard of the saying "Try to disagree without being disagreeable"? That's the key to avoiding flame wars.